Who Waits Forever Anyway?
by astheblackrosewilts
Summary: Sequel to ‘Who wants to live forever?’ set after Endless Waltz. Heero discovers Zechs is still living. There are 2 endings to this fic, a happy one and a sad one, I couldn’t decide which to use so I posted both. 1x6.
1. Who Waits Forever Anyway Sad Ending

A/N Ok I wrote two endings to this fic one sad and one happy this is the sad one and the next chapter is the happy one, I couldn't decide which one I liked best so I posted both, tell me what which one you think.  
  
Summary: Sequel to 'Who wants to live forever?' set after Endless Waltz. Heero discovers Zechs is still living. There are 2 endings to this fic, a happy one and a sad one, I couldn't decide which to use so I posted both. 1x6  
  
Rating: PG13  
  
Disclaimer: I own Gundam Wing, well, I own the DVDs, the books, and the figurines, which you can bend into allsorts of interesting, compromising positions – grins - does that count?

Warnings: Character death - not graphic, references to yaoi.  
  
**Who Waits Forever Anyway?**  
  
Alive.  
  
Zechs was alive.  
  
Heero wrapped his arms around himself, in the small bed in the hospital unit in the Preventer building, normally he wouldn't still be here, he hated hospitals, they reminded him too much of the labs he had seen all too often when he was younger and Dr. J was preparing him to be the ultimate weapon, but this hospital had a security system that he and Duo had designed together, there was no way anyone, including himself, could escape.  
  
Zechs was alive. Why was that thought stuck on repeat?  
  
'Don't be stupid,' he told himself silently, 'there was no reason for him to come and see you, you weren't anything during the war and you aren't anything now.' It was just sex, that's all it ever was, just another kind of battle on another kind of battlefield. Just another one of the endless competitions they'd worked at, each trying desperately to beat the other. Hoping to have the last victory so... So what? Why had they been fighting exactly? He couldn't remember.  
  
Zechs was alive.  
  
He turned over in the bed restlessly, why wouldn't that thought go away? And why the hell did he feel... Betrayed?

###  
  
Heero was alive, and still trying to save the world from the look of things.  
  
'He never knew you were alive,' he told himself sternly, 'there was absolutely no reason for him to look for you or...' or nothing.  
  
So why did he feel like somehow Heero should have know, should have known that the blast that had failed to kill him, just as it had failed to kill Heero, more times than he wanted to think about.  
  
He was just being stupid, he wasn't disappointed in Heero he was disappointed in himself. Even after all he had done there was still war and that was something Heero couldn't be protected from, mainly because, if Heero heard about it or found out about it, Heero went looking for it.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
The whisper was directed towards the hospital block he was currently standing outside of.  
  
"I'm so sorry, it was supposed to end with Libra, this was never meant to happen again Heero, you were never supposed to have to fight again.  
  
It was barely audible, it wasn't meant to be heard but someone evidently had...  
  
"Why don't you tell him that then?"  
  
Zechs spun round like a scalded cat, gun out within a second proving that old habits do die hard, mentally berating himself for letting his guard down even for a second, until he noticed who had managed to startle him.  
  
If the only people who could sneak up on him these days were Gundam pilots then his skills weren't as bad as he had originally been afraid they were.  
  
"I said, why don't you tell him that then?" The blonde pilot of what OZ had called 04 during the war stepped out of the shadows that had been partially obscuring his features.  
  
Zechs opened his mouth to address him but found he hadn't a clue what to call him. Intelligence had found out later on in the war that this pilot was named Quatre, Quatre Raberba Winner, but he couldn't call him that, could he...  
  
As if seeing his dilemma the teenager in front of him solved the debate for him, "Quatre's fine and I believe I asked you a question, although I think I may already know the answer."  
  
"Quatre, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." A diplomatic smile, one he had been forced to practice over and over when he was younger now made its way onto his lips, a mask, something they all wore, that fitted like a second skin.  
  
The blonde snorted in a manor that concealed his aristocratic roots very effectively. "Sure you don't, in fact I bet you have no idea who the 'him' I'm talking about is either, do you? Cut the bullcrap Zechs..." Upon seeing the other flinch at the name he quickly corrected himself, "Millardo, I'm not stupid you know and what's more I'm not blind, I don't know exactly how long this has been going on but I bet I could make a pretty good guess."  
  
"I'm afraid I don't know..."  
  
"Who are you trying to hide from Millardo? Treize is dead, in case you hadn't noticed, I know already and have known since well before the last war ended. I'm not sure about the other pilots but I bet they at least suspect and anyway, none of them are likely to kill you unless you hurt him and in which case I'd say none of us would get a chance to kill you as you'd have probably have offed yourself rather than hurt him in the first place."  
  
"He must have someone else by now."  
  
"Why? Do you?"  
  
"No! Bt then again I've been legally dead for the better part of a year, I didn't exactly have a full social life you know, it really puts a limit on the number of people on the prospective dating list."  
  
"Who exactly would be on Heero's list, how many people could understand and cope with someone whose version of a security blanket shoots bullets?"  
  
"I thought maybe... Relena?"  
  
"Relena?" The blonde laughed again, "you think a pacifist princess would be suitable for a former terrorist? You really have been out of the picture haven't you? Relena is nothing more than a friend to him and she never will be, they both understand this and they both accept this as far as I'm aware. You have seriously underestimated your sister's intelligence if you honestly think that, even after all this time, she could have failed to notice that Heero is in love with someone else."  
  
"Someone else?" Millardo blinked.  
  
"Have you listened to a word I've just said? He's in love with you! Though it took me forever to get him to bloody admit it. Allah knows he's about as stubborn as Wufei is on a bad day when he wants to be.  
  
"Me? Why?"  
  
"He needs someone like you Millardo, he needs someone who wont flinch when he walks into a room, someone who can cope with the fact that he sleeps with a gun under his pillow, he needs someone who can understand that what he did wasn't glorious or wonderful but something that wakes you up in the middle of the night screaming. This isn't about self-preservation Millardo. This isn't about what you think is best, both for him and yourself, this isn't anything to do with some deep twisted belief that you have that says that Heero will never be able to let go of the war with you there. This is about what he needs, what both of you need. He needs you so he can let go of the war, you not being there is stopping him letting go of it, he can't get over it if it isn't there Millardo." The blonde stopped clearly worn out from his tangent and then he began to speak more quietly, "and you haven't gotten over it either have you? Or else you wouldn't be here, staring up at a hospital window dreaming of might-have-beens."  
  
With that, the teenager turned and walked back into the building without looking back.  
  
Millardo blinked again, not having expected that from the usually quiet blonde.  
  
"Kinda scares you when he gets going don't he?"  
  
Millardo spun round for the second time in five minutes his gun pointed at another target who didn't even acknowledge it. Duo Maxwell took a step towards him and smirked at his lost expression.  
  
"Quat's right though, Heero does need you, no matter how many times he's either been told or has told himself he doesn't need anyone... and you need him," the braided boy concluded a cocky grin in its usual place on his heart-shaped face. "Look Zechsy... Aw come on don't flinch like that, which name would you prefer, Lt. Zechs Marquise, OZ's 'Lightening Count' or Millardo Peacecraft, the White Fang Leader? Neither's a pretty picture really Zechsy."  
  
"You mean you actually want me near him? Like you said, neither name's a 'pretty picture' I was under the impression that you despised me, Zechs or Millardo."  
  
"I want what's best for him, as cliché as it sounds," the other shot back, wincing at the phrase. "Heero's a big boy now, I can't make these decisions for him," he scowled, "no matter how much I might want to. Look I know you two didn't exactly have the best... relationship during the war but... I mean if you can get Heero relaxed and trusting you enough to sleep with you then..."  
  
He let the sentence trail off allowing Millardo to fill in his own ending ' there must have been something there.'  
  
"Look," he said again after a few minutes of silence, "I'm not trying to tell you what to do but Heero's human, just like the rest of us," he grinned, "no matter how many times he's come close to proving otherwise." Duo's face sobered, allowing Millardo to see through the mask for the first time ever, "Heero is human and humans can only survive so much, Heero's been living on borrowed time for almost a year now, even perfect soldiers need a reason to live."  
  
Millardo watched, silently as Duo Maxwell slipped back into the shadows, fitting with them as naturally as if he had been born in them, a split second later he could no longer see him, and he had nothing to distract him from the choice he was going to have to make. A few seconds later he turned and strode determinedly away, as difficult as this was going to be, he knew what he had to do

###  
  
Heero stared up at the pristine white ceiling a perfect mask on his face as usual, he was counting the shadows, or was it the tiles, or... he shook his head, it didn't matter anything so long as it pushed Zechs out of his mind. Damnit! There he was again, why wouldn't he go away.  
  
"He'll never want you," he whispered softly, "he's a prince no matter how much he tries to deny his roots, he doesn't need a blood stained terrorist running around after him."  
  
'Finish the mission,' the voice was so clear and so lifelike that Heero had to stop himself from looking round for his old tutor, Dr. J, 'finish the mission and make the choice for him, you weren't supposed to live past the first war, you were a tool all along, you were created to fight, there's no place for soldiers in a world of peace. You were never meant to love, you are incapable of love, you are a cold-blooded killer who destroys everything he touches, save him the pain and end it yourself."

###  
  
Outside Millardo Peacecraft stepped into the first mobile suit he found, no doubt Lady Une was going to have a heart attack when she discovered that one of the suits she had confiscated had disappeared. He almost faltered as he looked back at the imposing structure that was Preventer HQ before steeling and reminding himself why he was doing this, 'Heero, you are doing this for Heero,' he told himself firmly, 'he can't forget the war if you are there reminding him of the battlefield everyday, all you would do would be to cause memories that are best left forgotten, save him the pain and leave now.' Yes, leave now before you can't bring yourself to, leave now before you turn around, run into that building, find him and never let yourself lose him again  
  
He was just a second too late to hear the scream that rent around the near silent compound, the night duty nurse was the first to discover that not even the perfect soldier could survive a bullet to the head.  
  
Not a week later the body of Millardo Peacecraft was found by a salvage team cleaning up after the most recent battles, it was floating space, or, more specifically, the part of space where Heero Yuy had first met, and fought, Zechs Marquise.  
  
**Owari  
**  
A/N Right, this was the sad one...


	2. And the Happy Ending

A/N ...And this is the happy one, the first paragraph is the same as the one in the sad version of the fic, form the upon the realities diverge.

Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
**Who Waits Forever Anyway - Alternate Ending**  
  
Millardo watched, silently as Duo Maxwell slipped back into the shadows, fitting with them as naturally as if he had been born in them, a split second later he could no longer see him, and he had nothing to distract him from the choice he was going to have to make. A few seconds later he turned and strode determinedly away, as difficult as this was going to be, he knew what he had to do.

###  
  
Millardo Peacecraft stood on the outside of a door that led to the hospital unit of the Preventer Headquarters.  
  
He hesitated for a second before pushing the door open, Heero was easy to make out, it was a small room and there was only one bed occupied. He licked his lips and straightened his coat well aware that he was stalling.  
  
'Come on, it's only Heero Yuy, you've met him before,' he frowned and thought over that sentence again, 'it's _only_ Heero Yuy?' Well, he was probably the first person on either the planet or the colonies to ever say _that_, when referring to _this_ Heero Yuy anyway.  
  
Heero made the struggle he was having with his mind about whether or not to run away obsolete though when he turned around. For the first time in a year Millardo Peacecraft caught sight of the cobalt blue eyes that were a paradox in themselves somehow being able to be alight with passion and emotionless at the same time, but they were nothing compared to the man behind them.  
  
For the first time ever he saw Heero without a mask, there was uncertainty, hopefulness, disbelief and a touch of apprehension clear in the face and body of the young man in front of him. 'What did you do to him,' his brain screamed at him, 'look at him, you destroyed him.'  
  
"Zechs?" The voice was quiet and emotionless, at odds with the feelings Heero's face was showing.  
  
"Oh God," he choked aloud, "I'm sorry Heero, so sorry, it wasn't supposed to be like this..."  
  
"This was the way it had to be Zechs...Or are you Millardo now?" The voice was still quiet but the question was said with a hint of simple curiosity as though the answer wouldn't change both their lives forever, Zechs went with Heero, Millardo didn't.  
  
"Neither, both, any, whichever you prefer."  
  
"Everyone needs a name, which is yours?"  
  
He licked his lips again and answered surely, "Zechs."  
  
Heero smiled, a small smile but a real smile which was, as he was now beginning to realise, the most he'd ever gotten from the pilot.  
  
"Zechs." Heero said the name slowly, almost reverently, savouring the word then he smiled again, "I've missed you, Zechs."  
  
'What did you ever do to deserve this?' The annoying voice was back in Zechs' head. 'What did you ever do to deserve him?'  
  
'I don't know, but I'm not going to mess it up this time,' he answered the voice silently while closing the door and walking into the room. 'I'm never going to leave him again.'  
  
**Owari**  
  
A/N Don't forget to R&R, tell me which you liked best.  
  
This is the sequel to 'Who wants to live forever?' the prequel to that fic is up at aff.net under the same pen name.


End file.
